Luigi Mangione, the man accused of the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson, was met with a crowd of fervent supporters as he made his way to court in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, for an extradition hearing last Thursday.
The 26-year-old faces charges in New York City for the alleged killing that took place in midtown Manhattan.
According to the Daily Mail, Mangione was indicted under a New York state law on charges of murder as an act of terrorism, a law that permits harsher sentences when the crime is intended to instill fear in civilians or manipulate government actions. The accused underwent two consecutive hearings on Thursday. The first hearing addressed forgery and firearms charges in Pennsylvania, while the second hearing saw Mangione waiving extradition to New York to confront the murder charges, contradicting his lawyer's previous statement that Mangione would resist extradition.
NYPD officers were in attendance at the court, seemingly prepared to escort the suspect back to New York City. Reports from CNN suggest that Mangione will be flown to the city. Upon leaving the court, Mangione was seen in a black SUV bearing New York plates.
The court appearance drew a crowd of hundreds of protesters rallying in support of Mangione. They brandished signs with messages such as 'Health insurance practices terrorize people!' and 'Death by denial is murder!' A few supporters even donned costumes of Luigi from the Super Mario Bros video game. Several TikTok users revealed that they had traveled up to six hours to witness the court appearance, with some even flying in from California to back the alleged assassin.
Mangione's arraignment in state court could occur as early as Thursday afternoon or Friday. In a court filing last week, Mangione's defense attorney, Tom Dickey, argued that prosecutors had not provided sufficient evidence to detain Mangione, proving his presence in New York at the time of Thompson's murder, or establishing him as a fugitive from justice.
Mangione, a resident of Towson, Maryland, was apprehended on December 9 when police responded to a call from a McDonalds restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was identified as matching the description of Thompsons killer. Thompson was fatally shot on the street while en route to a hotel where his Minnesota-based company was hosting an investor conference. The incident was caught on security footage, but the suspect managed to evade police until Mangione was apprehended approximately 277 miles west of New York.
Authorities claim that Mangione was in possession of the firearm used to kill Thompson, a passport, a counterfeit ID, and roughly $10,000 in U.S. and foreign currency. Dickey, his lawyer, has questioned the evidence supporting the forgery charge and the legal grounds for a gun charge. He had previously indicated that Mangione would oppose extradition to New York while being detained in a Pennsylvania state prison.
Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a prominent family, was found carrying a handwritten letter that labeled health insurance companies as 'parasitic' and criticized corporate greed, as per a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week.
Mangione had a notable outburst last week as he entered court, berating reporters for being 'completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!' This outburst was triggered by a question from a reporter asking the Ivy League graduate if he 'did it,' referring to Brian Thompson's murder, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. He also vociferously declared 'this is completely unjust and an insult to the American people' as he grappled with police officers while in shackles and prison attire.
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